Health and Safety Code section 1385.0016
(a)
A pharmacy benefit manager applying for licensure under this article shall reimburse the director for the actual cost of processing the application, including overhead, up to an amount not to exceed twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000). The cost shall be billed not more frequently than monthly and shall be remitted by the applicant to the director within 30 days of the date of billing. The director shall not issue a license to an applicant before receiving payment in full from that applicant for all amounts charged pursuant to this subdivision.(b)
(1)In addition to other fees, fines, penalties, and reimbursements required to be paid under this article, a licensed pharmacy benefit manager shall pay to the director an amount estimated by the director, in consultation with the Department of Health Care Access and Information, to be necessary to fund the actual and reasonably necessary expenses of the department to implement this article and the actual and reasonably necessary expenses of the Department of Health Care Access and Information pertaining to data reporting by pharmacy benefit managers, including for any portion of the Health Care Payments Data Program established by Section 127671.1 that is necessary to implement the provisions of this article, for the ensuing fiscal year. The amount may be paid in two equal installments. The first installment shall be paid on or before August 1 of each year, and the second installment shall be paid on or before December 15 of each year.(2)
The total assessment cost for all licensed pharmacy benefit managers determined by the director pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be divided pro rata among licensees based upon each licensee’s share of the aggregate number of claims adjudicated in this state by licensed pharmacy benefit managers. The aggregate number of claims adjudicated in this state and each licensee’s share of that number shall be calculated based on the report that licensees are required to submit pursuant to paragraph (3).(3)
A licensed pharmacy benefit manager shall, by January 31 of each year, file with the director a report stating the total number of claims it adjudicated for drugs in this state for the preceding calendar year. For purposes of this paragraph, adjudicated claims are claims for reimbursement for drugs dispensed by a provider to a beneficiary under the drug benefit administered by the pharmacy benefit manager for which payment was authorized and made by the pharmacy benefit manager. Reports submitted shall be in the form and manner directed by the department. Notwithstanding Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, the department may issue instructions on reporting without taking regulatory action.(4)
The amount paid by each pharmacy benefit manager shall be fixed by the director by notice to all licensed pharmacy benefit managers on or before June 15 of each year. A pharmacy benefit manager that is unable to report the number of adjudicated claims shall provide the director with an estimate of the number and the method used for determining the estimate. The director may, upon giving written notice to the pharmacy benefit manager, revise the estimate if the director determines that the method used for determining the estimate was not reasonable.(5)
In determining the amount assessed, the director shall consider all appropriations from the Pharmacy Benefit Manager Fund for the support of the administration of this article and other relevant reimbursements provided for in this chapter.(6)
A refund or reduction of the amount assessed shall not be provided if a miscalculated assessment is based on a pharmacy benefit manager’s overestimate of adjudicated claims.
Source:
Section 1385.0016, https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=HSC§ionNum=1385.0016. (updated Jun. 30, 2025; accessed Jul. 14, 2025).
